PORTLAND, Ore. — After crashing out of his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Circuit of The Americas (Texas), Ed Jones returned with determination.
He wheeled Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 24 entry to a fifth-place finish at Portland International Raceway, marking the organization’s second-best result of the season. Only Craftsman Truck Series star Corey Heim recorded a better result this year, finishing fourth at Richmond Raceway.
A former NTT IndyCar Series driver with experience in IMSA, Jones debuted last year at COTA in the Truck Series with Young’s Motorsports. He never completed a lap with suspension issues and finished dead last.
Returning to COTA this year in Xfinity, he ran just 42 laps before his race-ending crash.
So finally, the 29-year-old Emirati-born British driver was able to link together an entire race weekend from start to finish.
“Started mid-pack and gradually worked out way up the field every stage to inside the top-10 for the final stage,” Jones said after the race. “It’s great to get a full race’s experience in, and even better, to be in the top five. Just thank you to the team and Toyota for helping me prepare for the weekend. And Synergy for being in the car.
“We rolled off the truck pretty good. Obviously, practice is so short, but we got a good feel. Our car wasn’t the best for qualifying, a single-lap run, but we felt comfortable that we had a good car in the long run, and it proved its case in the race.”
As eventual winner Shane Van Gisbergen, Justin Allgaier and others stole the show up front, Jones grinded his way through the field. After qualifying 17th earlier in the day, he dropped two spots in the first stage to finish 19th but got up to 10th at the end of Stage Two.
Two cautions polluted the final stage, including a wreck involving six cars on the exit of Turn 12. That gave Jones an opportunity with a pair of late-race restarts.
Fortunately for Jones, he’s been to Portland before. He made three IndyCar starts at the circuit in the past and used that to his advantage as he drove inside the top five in the final laps.
“For the last two restarts, it was all about going full attack,” he said. “I’m still learning how aggressive to be. It’s been an experience.”
Now, Jones will have a chance to build off it. He’ll return to the car next weekend at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. It’s his final scheduled race as of now.